Hurricane Matthew leaves a mess in Haiti

Hurricane Matthew has devastated Haiti. Crops were flattened, houses were damaged, and several hundred people lost their lives. Those lucky enough to survive have to get back up on their feet to rebuild their homes. CCTV's correspondent Stephen Gibbs has more.

A town of 30,000 people, reduced to this. Jeremie, in Western Haitii has no power, little food, and for days has been marooned from the rest of the country. Many of the at least 900 people that have died as a result of Hurricane Matthew are believed to have drowned here.

We set out from Port au Prince towards Jeremie. Access to the entire affected area has been a key problem in the relief effort. About 3 hours outside the capital, damage starts becoming more visible. Banana plantations - once seen as offering hope that Haiti can move beyond its dependence on aid - have been flattened.

Fedner Rene saw his entire crop lost:"It is now that people in Haiti are going to go hungry."

We continue for another two hours. This has been the first clear day since the hurricane. The first chance for people to dry out everything they own.

Closer to point where Matthew struck it is clear that any house on high ground stood no chance. We stop at the commune of Torbeck, still 100 kilometers from Jeremie, but around 20 kilometers from the point where the eye of the storm crossed the country.

Alexis Bernard, and twelve members of his family, huddled together in their home as the hurricane approached, he said, "Monday evening around 8 o'clock that's when the wind started then we stayed indoors until the next day which was on Tuesday at 8 o' clock when we saw that the roof was flying off we decided we needed to find a safer place to stay."

That, they agreed, was outside their house. So all of them, including this young girl, spent the worst hours of category four hurricane, out in the open. They thought this was the end:"There were 13 of us in the house and not one single one of us did not fear for his or her life."

All survived. But six in this community of 2,000 lost their lives.

Stephen Gibbs from Torbeck, Haiti, said, "Almost every single house in this small community has lost its roof and one of the things the people here have told us is while they have seen aid agencies pass by not a single one has stopped to help."

"Poor Haiti" is the response of many as they watch random destruction again strike this impoverished nation.

Alexis Bernard has no time to dwell on the unfairness of it all. His priority is to rebuild his roof, so his little sister can sleep out of the rain.